Air Pacific cancels Boeing order

National Carrier Air Pacific has cancelled an order to purchase for eight Boeing 787s which was initially ordered in 2006.

The Flight Global website confirmed that the cancellation has been disclosed in Boeing’s order books last month.

It said Air Pacific had ordered five 787-9s in April 2006 and taken purchase rights on another three and these aircraft were originally intended for delivery this year.

The report said Air Pacific subsequently firmed the purchase rights in December 2007, taking its overall total to eight 787-9s and the airline also selected General Electric GEnx engines for the twinjets.

But Boeing revealed in March that eight 787s had been struck from its backlog, and its first-quarter order total for the type shows that the eight Air Pacific aircrafts are no longer listed.

Boeing’s data for March 2011 shows 835 787s on order, a net reduction of eight from the previous month.

The Fiji Government is the majority shareholder in Air Pacific with 51% shares while Qantas holds 46.32% shares in the national airline.

Questions on the matter have been sent to Air Pacific this morning by Fijivillage and a statement is expected to be released this afternoon.


Story by: Roneel Lal